Vaults
by beautifully-rational
Summary: It would be hard to explain the forces and beings which govern the universe, but if you ask one who often manipulated such power, he'd probably say it goes something like this. / Ongoing.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: I'm taking a break from coming up with my own ideas and adapting RPs into fics instead. Thinking is boring, to quote a Holmes off in London. This RP is a two-person and at the moment totals to nearly 200K words between me and my partner. I'll ramble down the bottom, if you're interested. On to the show, huh? x**_

* * *

Romana was perfectly sure the TARDIS was not meant to be shaking like this. She had been perfectly content reading in the library until the book had been torn out of her hands by a sudden jolt. After giving a little impatient sigh, she headed for the console room, witty insults at the ready for the scarf-wearing maniac likely piloting the TARDIS right now. She emerged into the circular room, the scene exactly as she imagined it and demanded, "What is going on here?"

Mentioned scarf-wearing maniac looked up from the console for a moment and gave his companion a wide grin. "Alright, I give up, what _is_ going on here, Romana?" he asked, the grin still very much in place, though he looked away to lean across the console to try the stabilizers. In response, the room shook violently, and Romana watched as the Doctor clinged to the console for dear life. "Well then," he said, adjusting his hat, "I won't try the stabilizers again."

Romana herself had only kept her footing during the cacophony which was the Doctor's flight work by holding onto the door frame next to her for dear life. When the room settled and it was safe to be upright again, she moved over to the console, though each step was cautious.

Lucky for the Doctor, Romana had actually _passed_ her flight exams.

However, she didn't go to assist him with flying the TARDIS; instead she accessed the computer. "It appears she's locked onto a distress signal." she informed him, eyes still glued to the monitor. "It's alien of origin, though according to the TARDIS..." She trailed off as she continued to read off the contents of the computer screen. "... according to the TARDIS, it's located in Cardiff, on Earth. From the year 2008." she said, and looked up at her Doctor.

He gave her a curious look, one which always made him look young, and came to join her at the computer. "Cardiff?" he questioned as he took over control of the computer. He looked at the screen and then gave Romana a disappointed look. "Now that's a bit under dramatic, isn't it?" he asked, the mischievous grin coming back. "Still, we should find out how the Welsh managed to accomplish that, shan't we?"

Romana rolled her eyes in reply. He began to move outside so she followed him, not having noticed their landing, though secretly interested in how indeed humans had managed to gain the attention of the Doctor. She was greeted by quite a boring sight, but it appeared the scarf-wearing maniac thought differently.

"Ah, look at that." he said, grinning at the open space before them. "That's how you make a secret base!"

Romana narrowed her eyes at the place. "There's nothing here." she pointed out.

But still, the Doctor continued, "I used to tell the Brigadier how dull UNIT was, even if you keep in mind that it's supposed to defend the Earth from the most evil of creations... but you know what? He just told me I'm too dramatic. That they need the money for better things than that."

"Doctor." Romana prompted again, and he looked at her, brow raised. "There's no one here." she repeated.

"Ah." he said, and turned around again, apparently to check if her claim was true.

But unfortunately Romana was wrong for the first time in a long time, for a resounding American accent from very close from behind the two said, "You're not the Doctor."

* * *

"Doctor!" Was the last thing that could be heard before Rory Williams fell down the stairs.

His wife, Amelia Pond, went from criticising the Doctor and his driving skills to rushing down to ensure her husband hadn't broken his neck.

And fortunately, Rory muttered, "I'm fine." as she helped him up.

Amy gave an exasperated glance to the Doctor, who was still trying to keep the TARDIS under control at the console. "Tell me again why you don't just let River teach you how to fly her." she told him.

"I can fly her just fine!" he returned defensively, throwing up another leaver. "Just as the moment... I, uh... I _think_ she's locked onto something. And is most determined to get there."

The room jerked again as he leaned across to try the stabilizers, and then came to a sudden standstill. The Doctor remained stretched across the buttons and levers for a moment, just in case she took off again, but the room remained still. He straightened up.

"Well?" Amy prompted from the bottom of the stairs. "What famous pavlova have we landed on top of this time?"

The Doctor took the liberty of checking the scanners for once to satisfy Amy's question. "Oh... great." he complained, which wasn't an appropriate answer at all. "_Jack_."

"We're in Jack?" Rory asked, raising an eyebrow at the Time Lord at the console.

"He'd like to think so." said Time Lord replied, smiling a little. "No, we're in Cardiff. 2008 sometime." he answered Amy finally.

He prepared to leave, but as he turned away, another thing on the scanner caught his eye. It was another TARDIS. "Huh." he commented to himself, looking to the door.

He had already landed and the universe appeared to be enact, so he supposed going outside and meeting himself wouldn't do any more harm.

* * *

The Doctor swiftly turned around to face their new arrival, just about to say something, but instead closed his mouth with an audible 'clack'. He inspected the man in the military coat for a few moments before giving him a bright grin.

"Romana, look!" he said, looking at the man with obvious excitement. He leaned into the man, examining him from head to toe. "What a fascinating specimen you are! Let me tell you, there aren't many fixed points walking and talking and accusing me of not being me." He paused for a moment and the grin sobered a little, but didn't vanish. "It's a wonder you haven't been dealt with yet. I should send a complaint."

Romana examined the anomaly with a raised eyebrow, but was soon distracted by the sound of what appeared to be another TARDIS landing in the area. It appeared the Doctor had noticed the same fact, as had the man in the military coat; the _actual_ fact.

"Oh, no." The scarfed maniac said, and all three of them stared as the other police box materialized beside the one they had landed in a few moments ago. "No!" he complained, approaching the box which was forcing itself into existence.

Romana remained where she was, attention divided between the fact and the Doctor... s? She watched as her Doctor positioned himself in front of the door, a judging look planted on his face, and promptly caught the Time Lord which was making his way outside. He turned him around and shoved him right back in again.

"And stay in there!" he exclaimed at him, whoever he was, though he was very likely the Doctor. "I don't need the universe imploding and everything that ever existed to die! Or worse, the Time Lords on their way here!"

However, the Time Lord inside found his way outside, underneath her Doctor's arm, which was a loophole in her Doctor's cunning scheme. With him he bought a firehaired woman, who Romana assumed to be his companion. There was also another man, who her Doctor wasn't paying the slighest bit of attention to, who was stuck in the TARDIS due to the large span of her Doctor's back.

"That was rather rude of you, me." She heard the new arrival say. "I'd be nicer to myself if I were you... which is a real problem because I don't _remember_ being you looking at me."

"Yes, sounds like me to try and forget his sight." The Doctor returned.

"The universe hasn't imploded _yet_." The other Doctor pointed out positively.

"But you don't seem to get the concept of the grave danger with might be in." The Doctor returned, sounding slightly impatient with himself. "This could end catastrophically, and if it gets out of hand and I end up trial again, I will at least try to remember to make sure you hit yourself right in the nose." He paused to do said thing, but rubbed his nose instead. "Our timeline seems to be in quite a fragile state right now. And the High Council never approved of me meeting myself if it wasn't for their advantage, as you should remember." He then looked back at Jack for a moment, and grinned back at the other Doctor. "And plus, I was here first, and I'm not going anywhere."

"I forgot you're the one that likes to talk." The other Doctor commented, mirroring the grin, and then attempted to straighten up to the size of Romana's Doctor. "You're very welcome to deal with Jack, but I'm still staying." he said. "Two geniuses are better than one, after all." he alleged, raising his brow expectantly.

"Well, that does make sense." he reasoned, grinning. "The most brilliant man in the universe at the same location in time and space _twice_." He clasped his hands together. "Though, I do hope for us that we don't damage the web of time too much."

"The thing about broken things, though," The other Doctor began, looking to the man who had been trapped in the TARDIS who had now found his way out, "they can always be put back together."

"Wait... so, he's _you_?" The firehaired woman asked, leaning in towards her Doctor, pointing at Romana's one.

The other Doctor leaned in also so his forehead was nearly pressed to his companion's. "Yes, of course he's me." he responded. "You see where I get the can-never-shutup trait from now?"

"You're saying that like it's a bad thing!" Romana's Doctor exclaimed, butting into their conversation, and Romana took the idle banter as a cue to quiet them both.

The Fact had been standing behind them patiently the whole time, obviously waiting for an opportunity to speak, but he'd been granted none. As weird as standing near him felt, he appeared to be associated with the Doctor, at least one of them.

So Romana stepped in between them both, perfectly tranquil. "If you two have stopped fighting about whose got the bigger what, I do believe we were called here for a reason." she told them both, raising her chin and looking to the Fact.

"Ah, right, of course." Her Doctor said, his grin from before faltering slightly. He turned to the Fact and straightened himself. "State the nature of your emergency!"

In reply, the Fact chuckled a little. His eyes flicked to the other Doctor, the one Romana now realized was wearing a bowtie, but then back to hers. "We had someone fall through the rift a couple of days ago." he explained, and Romana watched as her Doctor's face fell further. "We've done scans upon scans, but our equip has to be acting up... it's telling us the person is a Time Lady."

Romana's eyebrows quirked; what was so weird about a Time Lady? So weird not one but _two_ Doctors had been called by a distress beacon? Though, it was strange for Gallifreyans to physically fall through a rift, considering they had no need to be near one in the first place.

She looked between the Doctors, waiting for a reply, and noted the other Doctor appeared more surprised than disappointed by the information the Fact had given them.

"Why, Time Ladies can be quite a lot of work." Her Doctor eventually commented, and he gave her a meaningful look. She rolled her eyes at him in response. "But that isn't an emergency. Time Lords don't usually do... _that_," He waved his hands around vaguely. "but if she is indeed a Time Lady, she should easily find her way to contact the Time Lords." He paused for a moment, apparently in thought. "Though, of course, it would depend on who it is. Certain renegades don't wish to associate with the Time Lords, quite like myself."

The other Doctor remained silent as Romana's Doctor spoke, though when he finished is when he finally perked up. "Maybe the Ponds and I should take of this on, eh, Four?" he chuckled, though it was done humourlessly. "It's lovely to see those... teeth again, and it's lovely to see you again too, Romana." He nodded at her.

The scarfed Doctor, Romana's Doctor, looked at the other suspiciously. "You suddenly want to get rid of me, why?" he demanded, looking down at his other self. "There is something I'm in the dark about, isn't there?"

"How am I supposed to keep secrets from myself?" The other Doctor asked in return, looking up at Romana's Doctor. "It's rather... ridiculous if you think about it. With timelines. It's all rather timey wimey wibbly wobbly, and you know, you'll eventually end up finding out anyone when you get to be standing here and–"

"Pardon me, not that telling yourself things you already know isn't incredibly fascinating, but have you forgotten who you are talking to?" The scarfed Doctor straightened, looking rather amused, at which Romana raised an eyebrow. "We practically _invented_ distracting by talking, and I'm sure we could talk until the end of time itself. But I believe we have a reason for being dragged here." He looked at the Fact, who was _still_ standing behind the Doctors and their respective companions. "Fact, would you lead us to the reason?"

"Jack," The Fact and the other Doctor offered at the same time, but the Doctor continued, "his name is Jack."

"Jack." Romana's Doctor reiterated, still looking at him.

'Jack' looked slightly concerned by her Doctor's enthusiasm towards his name, but then he looked towards the fountain nearby. "Secret entrance, anybody?" he asked.

Romana watched as both a grin emerged on both the Doctors faces, and they followed Jack eagerly as he approached the fountain. He settled himself on one of the concrete panels and invited everyone else to stand with him. Romana stood beside her Doctor, and next to the firehaired girl.

The panel began to move downwards as everyone had settled themselves down, and it was Romana's Doctor which let out a gleeful laugh in reply. "Brilliant!" he exclaimed. "That's how you build a hidden entrance!"

Romana just caught Jack's grin.

* * *

"What the hell?" Owen Harper, resident medical officer of Torchwood Three, asked himself as he looked up from his search for his pen under his desk.

He rubbed his head, having hit it on the wood as a result of having a ridiculously loud voice attack his ears. He looked to the invisible lift across the Hub, taking in the colourful lot which now accompanied Jack.

As his boss got off the lift, offering a hand to one of the women on board, Owen scoffed. But then he made his way to the railing overlooking the walkway and asked him, "The professional you talked about?" He looked to the source of the voice, having found it to be a scarf-wearing man.

"The Doctor." Jack corrected, following Owen's gaze. "Two of them, actually." A grin formed on his face, and Owen purely rolled his eyes, very conscious of what was going through Jack's mind right now.

"You were actually talking about _the_ Doctor?" Toshiko Sato piped up, a loud voice belonging to someone so surprisingly small.

Owen looked to her, and then back to Jack. He bit at his cheek. "Not to be rude or anything, but, you know..." He trailed off, shrugging. "Isn't he the reason Torchwood was established in the first place?"

"Two of them?" Ianto Jones also put in, having appeared from behind the coffee machine.

"Oh look, I'm famous." The scarf-wearing man commented, moving over to Tosh's station, picking up a yoyo which had been sitting on her desk. "Torchwood, you said?" he continued. "Never heard of it, but you're definitely alien, aren't you?" He looked around at the large interior. "Not connected with UNIT by any chance, are you?" he asked, looking to Jack, and without waiting for his answer he continued, "If not, I really don't want all this technology in the power of humans. It could result in something very not good."

"We're professionals." Jack claimed. "We _know_-" He snatched the yoyo off the man. "-what we're doing." He set it back down on Tosh's desk.

"Uh-huh." The man returned, reaching into his pocket to occupy his hands with something else, but instead pulled out a bag. For a moment, Owen had expected a weapon, and he was still suspicious until a sweet was pulled from the paper. "Very mysterious, all this secret organisation business." he commented, and then offered the bag to Jack without a word.

Owen's boss stared at the bag and then the man, before slowly slipping his hand in and pulling out of the contents. He seemed delighted when it didn't try to kill him, and so he popped the sweet into his mouth, at the same time catching Owen staring at him. Jack raised his eyebrows, obviously asking, _What_?

Owen chuckled and then shrugged, making a face, before looking back to the man who had already moved on from the contents of Tosh's desk. He was speaking with the other man; the Doctor, hadn't Jack said? And now that'd he ruled that out, wasn't the one wearing the scarf the Doctor too? Both of them were the same person?

"You have weird friends." Owen informed his boss.

"My favourite one is called Owen." Jack returned, raising his eyebrows again, though this time in a challenging way. But he quickly laughed again.

"Now, where is this Time Lady you talked about?" The scarf-wearing Doctor appeared to have finished speaking with the bowtied one, who upon examination, Owen saw was obviously waiting for that answer as well.

Jack turned around. "Downstairs." he answered. He gave a little shrug. "We weren't sure what to do with her." he claimed. "Gwen's been trying to talk with her," He nodded to the respective owner of that name, who was sitting at her desk. "and Tosh's been keeping a close eye on her, and she's fine, just isn't very responsive." he reported. "I thought you could help, seeing as you know, you're both telepathic, unlike us." He gestured around to his band of humans, though his gaze was on the bowtied Doctor, and it was a sad exchange of looks.

"We will do what we can." assured the scarfed Doctor with a little smile.

* * *

As Jack led the charge towards the reason, the fourth Doctor happily chatted along to anyone who was in earshot. It was hard to ignore such a loud voice, but the only person who was making comments was Romana.

The eleventh, older Doctor really did feel sorry for her. He knew what a pain he'd been back in his fourth face. "I get better as I get older, I assure you." he reassured her at one point with a small smile.

"Of course we do." It was Four who answered, despite the intended receiver. "Speaking of such, which one _are_ you? Certainly an older one, unless I'm forgetting whole incarnations in my old age."

"Eleven." The respective Doctor answered.

Four raised his eyebrows, grinning widely at the same time. "Oh dear, I didn't know there are so of me running around!" he exclaimed in an excited fashion. "Alive." he added quietly, but quickly covered with, "But this body is rather young-" He grabbed Eleven's chin and inspected it closely, and Eleven pulled away, giving Four an annoyed look. "Not another mid-life crisis, I hope? I truly hoped the next one after the Coat of Doom would have put that behind him by now." he said, the grin from before returning.

"Mid-life crisis?" Eleven returned in an amused manner.

Four's grin widened. "You must be three millennia old, now, though. I'm still in my fourth incarnation." he commented.

"Ah, well..." Eleven began, rubbing his neck. "This is body... it's... I'm, ah, around one thousand two hundred now. I lost count. Ages ago." he informed Four, who didn't appear to be pleased by this information.

"One thousand two hundred? _One thousand two hundred_?" he expressed his patronage. "I hope you lost count!" he exclaimed. "I mocked the Master for three centuries for losing three incarnations in less than five minutes... don't tell we did the same." he complained. But then he waved a hand, smiling at Eleven. "Ah, don't worry about it, I'm sure you had a perfectly good reason." he dismissed.

Eleven nodded to himself, puffing up one cheek. Jack looked back at them, just as they reached a new corridor. "She's down here." he said.

At this, Eleven realised that there was indeed a Time Lady down here. He could feel her mind against his, as badly shielded as his own, for he hadn't truly bothered since the War. There was no one to hide his thoughts and feelings from. But there was something more disturbing – the familiarity of it all, her thoughts and feelings, her obvious grieving and mourning.

"I can feel her mind..." Eleven commented softly, just as Jack led them forward again. "Can you?" He looked to himself and Romana. "It's familiar." he alleged.

"Indeed it is." Four agreed, nodding.

Soon enough they came to their destination, and there she was, curled up on a sofa in the corner of the room. Eleven didn't recognise her, not her face, but her mind... it was definitely familiar, and he had definitely been around it before.

But it appeared the realisation of who it was dawned on Four before it could him, for he questioned in a strangled tone, "_Romana_?"

**/ 3653.**

* * *

**Broad introduction I know, and a little on the cliché side as well. But it's alright, we thought the same when writing it, and now we've long since stepped away from time babies. Our ideas expand long past all this, I can assure you that much. At this current point in time we have a grand total of 38 characters, both from classic Who and revived Who.**

**Speaking of such, you won't need much classic knowledge to grasp the basic storyline. The main villain is in fact from classic Who, as are the rest of the villains aside from the Master. It's nothing if you don't mind just doing a little extra reading, and I'm not asking you to.**

** If you want to understand all the idle little comments exchanged at a later date between other characters, then perhaps classic knowledge would be handy, but again, it's nothing you can't really look up. If you're uncomfortable reading classic Who that's perfectly okay too, and if you ever need me to explain something or to overview a certain character I'll be more than happy to do it for you.**

**On the topic of characters, I'd like to say that yes, RomanaIV _is_ an OC. She's the only aspect of this RP which is not owned by the BBC. She's not mine either, she's my partner's, and I think my partner did a wonderful job at characterizing her. Why the fourth, you ask? Because Romana has a set of prose with Eight in her third incarnation, before and during the Time War, that's why. We thought it'd be appropriate for her to regenerate as a result of the War, so there, she regenerated. Plus, RomanaIV looks more classy than RomanaIII.**

**I think that concludes my rambling!**

**I hope you had as much fun reading it as we did writing it, both in RP format and in fic format (we wrote the fic on google docs together and it was so tedious but it was so hilarious at the time). Any reviews are very much appreciated as is feedback both of the positive and the negative... we're both looking to improve.**

**Thanks! x**


	2. Chapter 2

The Time Lady in question looked up at the utter of her name. "Doctor...?" she slowly whispered, that being the first word she had spoken in a long time. Yet, she couldn't believe it. She thought she would never see him again, less this incarnation, the fourth – the figure with the curly hair, with that wonderful, wonderful, impractical scarf and the that hat which sat atop his curls. But there he was, and there he was again, just behind Four. Both of them were staring at her, very much real. "Doctor?" she repeated again, this time clearer, and her eyes radiating a glimmer of hope for a brief few moments.

"Romana... is... is that you?" The older one asked, even if it was plainly obvious he already knew the answer.

But then her younger self was talking too, and it was a breathless question, again one with a very evident answer. "Are you... alright?" she pressed.

Romana, the older one, slowly directed her gaze to her younger self instead. "No." She shouldn't be here, nor should Four – it was too dangerous for the both of them. She expressed this through a pained gaze to the older Doctor, one which she was certain was on the same page as her. "They needed my help... I need to help them, I need to be sure..."

She watched as his face softened painfully, his eyes brimming tears. "Romana." he repeated, though more in a soothing tone, and he slowly edged towards her. He was fazed. But still he crouched down beside her, his eyes still soft. "Romana... I..." He hesitated, but his voice was soft, softer than his eyes. "I am so sorry... but... I did what I could, the Moment, it-" Even he, who appeared to be further along his timeline than her, had trouble explaining. "They're all gone. All of them. But you couldn't have done anything, there was nothing anyone could have done." A single tear found its way down his cheek and she resisted the urge to wipe it away. "The things they planned... Romana, you know I didn't have a choice, and it wasn't your fault. It was them... or the universe." His voice had dissolved from quiet and soothing to strangled, and it was there he stopped.

"I know." she breathed in response, barely audible, but the Doctor demonstrated his knowledge of her utterance by nodding minutely. "The Moment, we know you would have to use it." she said, trying to keep her voice steady. All her emotions, so fresh, so real as she brushed over them again; they threatened to come out and engulf her completely. But the Doctor... he must live with unimaginable guilt, she knew, and she felt part of it. It was getting stronger the more his eyes remained locked with hers. "But I have to be sure... I fell through the rift when we opened it... couldn't hold on, Brax, he-" She cut herself off to swallow and take a composing breath. "He was yelling..." She could still hear his screams for her. "I needed to help them. We needed four pilots to flee, only four, but the rift took me. The Daleks were so _close_." Her voice cracked.

"I know." The older Doctor said in the same manner she had before. "I know." He swallowed deeply, taking a shaky breath. "You were brave, Romana. You did all you could."

"I did." she returned, trying to get herself to believe it as well. The thing is, she was still scared. She just wanted to go home; the screaming to stop. She wanted it to never have happened. She didn't want to imagine the what ifs.

"You did." he agreed.

Romana pulled her knees in closer to her chest and hugged them tight, looking at the older Doctor. She took another shaky breath. "Can you get me away from here?" she quietly asked. He must still have his TARDIS, or else he wouldn't be here, less in company. A TARDIS would be reassurance, if anything.

To her relief, the older Doctor soundlessly nodded. "The TARDIS is outside." he told her, and then straightened up. He offered her his hand.

Romana looked at the hand before taking it, slowly standing up. He led her away, out of the room and upstairs. He didn't let go, and neither did she.

* * *

Four hadn't been within earshot of Eleven and the older Romana's conversation, but he still felt sick, very sick. He needed to get out, he couldn't stand all this. So he did what he could do best and quickly turned around, making a run for it, almost pushing Amy, Rory and Jack to the ground in the process.

He ran back up the stairs, certain he wouldn't stop until he found the end of this whole place, but found himself suddenly stopping dead still somewhere in the middle. He sunk down against the closest wall.

He sat there for a few long moments, until he heard footsteps and the unmistakable feel of the fixed point in time and space nearby, obviously searching. And he did find him, for his American accent asked, "You alright there, Doc?"

Four just took off his hat and fiddled with it to occupy his hands. "It makes sense now, you know. How everyone acted. All your reactions. And why I won't remember all this. You'll have to wipe it. Eleven will, or Romana, the one you lot found." he said after a while, avoiding the immortal's question. He felt like his life was being drained out of him. Turning his head, he looked at Jack, "The Time Lords are gone. Aren't they?" It wasn't a question, even if posed as such.

He saw Jack hesitate, but he saw the confirmation all over his face, and it was all he needed. "Yes." Jack responded anyway. "My Doc, uh, he thought he was the last one. But..."

But Four blocked him out, trying to focus on breathing. It seemed so unreal; Gallifrey always seemed forever. All those names and places flooded his mind, knowing that they would die and turn to dust. His whole house, oh his dear Susan, his idiot brother, his _parents_, all his children and grandchildren, the citadel with all its knowledge, power and glory. Everything. Gone.

Oh God, he can't breathe. Not even his teachers would survive, not even Borusa, and oh Leela, he'd left her on Gallifrey. Not Ushas or anyone else of the Deca. No one. Alone. Absolutely alone.

Gallifrey and the Time Lords had always been a timeless place he ran away from and didn't like returning to, but the Time Lords were right about one thing – foreknowledge was not a good thing.

"Doc." Jack was still pressing, now actually sitting next to him. "Hey." He looked at him and gave a half-smile. "I was just saying, I've met four incarnations of you now. And really, I have to say, you have _best_ teeth I have seen in all two thousand years."

Four was still fiddling with his hat, but he couldn't help but be amused at that remark. "My Sarah Jane used to tell me that I scared her at the beginning of this incarnation. She said she was afraid I would try to eat her." He was happy about the topic change, especially to that of an old friend.

"You could certainly-" Jack began, but he stopped himself. "Wait, you mean, _the_ Sarah Jane? Sarah Jane Smith?" he asked instead.

Four smiled warmly, thinking about her. "Yes, the Sarah Jane Smith." he confirmed, and looked to Jack. "Do you know her?" Without waiting for an answer he added, "She's wonderful, isn't she? Sadly, I had to leave her and Harry behind before..." Here he stopped and sighed. "... before going to Gallifrey. There were no aliens allowed back then, you see." He didn't let himself dwell. "I do hope she's well."

They both sat in silence after that, partly enjoying one another's company, and partly letting their thoughts wander. It was Four who broke the silence. "Jack, have you met a man called Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart?" he asked. "You must have heard that fancy name from somewhere if you're in the protecting-Earth business." he claimed. "He's the greatest man I have met in all my lives. He would liked a man like yourself." Talking always helped him, talking about anything, not even remotely important things. Plus, talking about his friends always made him feel proud.

And to his delight, Jack nodded. "Yeah, I have. UNIT, isn't it?" he questioned. "I've met his daughter before. Kate. She always speaks highly of him."

"A daughter?" Four reiterated with a hollow chuckle. Another thing he shouldn't tell him, then. "I worked as UNIT's scientific advisor during my exile." he continued on, finding talking to Jack a wonderful distraction.

His mood was now good enough to take the white paper bag out of his pocket, and to pull out a jellybaby and nibble on it. He offered the bag to Jack with his free hand.

The immortal took a sweet as well, offering a smile and a, "Thanks." before eating it. "I did lots of study at the Time Agency about paradoxes." he then continued. "I've never met myself, as much as I want to. Obviously you have. How many times, though?" Four was glad Jack was pursuing generic conversation, if anything.

"A lot of times. Most of them have been stabilised, so all that study you did wouldn't technically apply." he answered. "I've met myself a lot. If that's what you're asking." he claimed. "Sometimes it was just a happy coincidence, and other times it was a ploy by the High Council, and then others were necessary. Like the time my eighth self lost his memories and needed to meet all his predecessors to get his memories back." He put the white bag back into his jacket pocket. "A TARDIS can sometimes stabilise a paradox, which is likely what's happening now." he added. He then gave Jack a slight condescending look. "Did you say Time Agency, before?" he asked.

"Yeah." Jack responded, and then held up his arm and pulled back his sleeve to reveal the vortex manipulator. "I was an Agent before I met the Doctor." he explained with a grin.

Four inspected the device with great interest, just stopping himself from studying it closer. "Very interesting." he commented. "I had heard of humans trying to invent time travel. They never managed it, of course, the Time Lords kept sending people to sabotage them." He realised the weight of what he said as it came out his mouth. The Time Lords weren't only dead. They were gone. Completely gone. Erased from time. "You're from the future, then?" he asked, trying to keep his game face on.

"50th century." he answered with a proud grin. "It's where I registered." He paused for a moment. "I ditched the agency, though. I became a con man. I travelled time and space with this-" He tapped the vortex manipulator. "-and I made quite a lot of money with the things I... 'sold'." he explained, half-grinning sadly. "But then in the London Blitz I met the Doctor, the ninth one, and his companion, Rose Tyler. I ended up travelling with them." he continued. "And then a couple adventures later, I was turned into a fixed point. I can never die. I barely even _sleep_." He made an exasperated gesture before shrugging to himself. "Then I zapped back here, to the 1800s, and I had to wait for him to come back in 2007." he concluded, complete with a wry smile.

"You would have liked my brother, Braxiatel." Four put in, mirroring Jack's small smile. "He does the same thing, except he calls himself a 'business man'." he reported. "I think he once sold a whole galaxy." As much as he did like criticising his brother, something else was amiss about Jack's story – that his older self had left him behind on that game station, immortal and with barely any means to get home. "Oh, I am so sorry, my good man." he began to apologise for his idiot future self. His future really wasn't looking good, was it? "I know some of my future selves would be idiots, but not to this extent." he claimed. "I will have a talk with that infernal poppycock before I go." Four knew being around Jack wasn't the nicest feeling, but it didn't defend the behaviour of his older incarnation. He bet he didn't even apologise for it.

It also took him a moment to realise why Jack hadn't responded – the immortal was giggling. "Oh... oh my God, sorry." he apologised, still laughing. He rubbed his mouth, chuckling behind it, before finally gathering himself. "You're just so different to the Doctors I know." he alleged. "It's surreal to think you're the same person."

"You would be quite surprised by my other incarnations." Four claimed, before putting his hat back on and swiftly standing up. "We should better go back." he said. "I wouldn't want to worry Romana."

Jack got up also, still smiling. "Yeah, good idea." he agreed. "This way."

* * *

Courtesy of Owen, a man Eleven didn't remember from Darvos and the Daleks (but he pushed these thoughts aside – his day had had enough death involved already), Eleven and the older Romana were able to get back up to the TARDIS under the fountain.

He was conflicted. Romana was alive. She was holding his hand _right now_. But Romana was dead, he'd timelocked all the Time Lords. But here she was. _Real_. Her mind was definitely hers, she was her and she was _here_. It was surreal. But he was still conflicted.

What was he going to _do_? He had Amy and Rory, but now he had Romana. He could travel with his own kind again. He wouldn't be alone.

Eleven approached his TARDIS, fishing for the key in his tweed jacket pocket with his spare hand. He found it and pushed it into the lock. He gestured for Romana to go in, a wide and reassuring smile equipped.

She complied and disappeared inside, and he followed her. He closed the door behind them both. He watched on with a smile as she took in the new interior. "It's nice." she sounded her approval, and it only caused his smile to widen. She approached the console, letting go of his hand, and set both her hands on it instead.

"She chose it." he offered, his hands folded behind his back, eyes wrinkling at the sides as he smiled.

"Your TARDIS has always been more independent than it should have been." Romana commented, a slight smile hovering on her lips.

Eleven chuckled in response, joining her at the console. "Not that anyone's complaining." he offered.

He set a hand on the console, and wasn't surprised to discover it was radiating warmth; she was _happy_. Happy to have another Time Lord nearby; happy that her pilot was happy. Neither of them were alone anymore, after all.

"You're a lot older now, too." Romana started up again after the appropriate amount of silence. "Last time I saw you, you were in your eighth incarnation, weren't you?" she questioned, and he nodded. "Which one is this?"

"Eleventh." he answered immediately. "I'm around one thousand two hundred years old now." He gave her a silly grin, shrugging. "I lost count."

Romana returned the grin fully this time, and it only made Eleven grin even more. "You had already lost count back then." she alleged. "What did you say in your fourth incarnation? Seven hundred?" she queried, the smile still very much real. "You old liar!" she exclaimed.

Eleven had to laugh. "I was just trying to sound impressive." he claimed, holding up his hands in surrender.

"And you're _still_ an old liar." Romana told him. "You're sulking! I can see right through you, you idiot." She was distracted for the moment, for the smile had completely engulfed her and whatever she'd been before.

So Eleven, very pleased with the turn of events, did the most mature he could do; he poked his tongue at her. In response, Romana raised both her eyebrows, before returning the gesture. "You're silly." she accused.

"It took you this long to figure it out?" he returned mockingly, one eyebrow raised.

"No." Romana responded seriously, and he couldn't tell if she actually _was_ being serious. "But I would have thought you would have matured by now." she said. "I guess that... _thing_ around your neck should have already been enough evidence to the contrary." She crossed her arms, smirking smugly.

Eleven clutched his bowtie protectively. "Bowties are cool, thank you very much." he defended his favourite piece of clothing, though a smile crept to his features as he finished. He had truly missed Romana.

Romana smiled again, before moving in close. He wrapped his arms around her and she did the same. "Yes, very... _cool_." she muttered in the embrace, chuckling a little.

Eleven hugged her tightly, smirking a little, but he didn't say anything. He just savoured the moment whilst it lasted.

"Can I come with you again?" she asked quietly, though he could hear her just fine because she was nuzzled right next to his ear.

"It would be my privilege." Eleven agreed. He wanted to say so many other things but there was no way he could put them into a coherent sentence for her to understand.

They were silent for a moment, until Romana pulled away slowly. She offered him a small smile but nothing more. "Doctor, there is still something you should know." she began. "Your brother, Braxiatel, he..." She took a shallow breath. "He knew that something big would happen, and he had made a few measure in case it would... get out of hand." she continued. "We need to locate his Collection. I have the key."

"Brax had a Collection in the event of a Time War?" Eleven questioned, both surprised and... and angry? Yes, angry he hadn't been informed sooner. Romana nodded. "I never knew. Of _course_ he wouldn't tell _me_." he muttered.

"He located it outside of N-Space long, long ago. There's still a chance it's still there." she revealed.

"But you don't know where it is."

Romana shook her head. "No."

Hope was often like that, though. It gave you something, something to hold onto, and then tore it away just as fast. Brax was cunning. Something of his would be hard to find. But it didn't mean he wouldn't try.

* * *

Four followed Jack through the hallways of the Torchwood Hub, hands in pockets. He had found out quite a bit about Jack in that conversation. The man was two hundred years old and didn't look a day over forty. He himself had just left him, not coming back.

Oh.

He should really visit Susan and apologise soon. On that thought, he decided it was a good idea. He begun searching in his pockets as they walked until he found a notepad and a pen. He began to write,

_Visit Susan and apologise._

_Visit Brax and apologise._

_Visit mother and father and apologise._

_Make sure Leela is alright._

_Be nicer to Romana._

_Signed, _

_ΘΣ_

Four ripped the piece of paper from the notepad and put it into the white paper bag which contained the jellybabies. "Don't tell my older self." he told Jack, for the immortal had been watching him.

He got a look crossed between a smug smirk and a worried expression in return. "He won't be happy if you stuff up timelines." he pointed out, even if Four knew very well.

"Who cares what he thinks?" Four returned defensively, putting away his notepad and paper, dropping them both back into the void that were his pockets. "He didn't leave so I will hold him fully guilty for all this."

Finally they emerged into the main room of the Hub, and the first person Four saw was Romana. "Ah, Romana!" he exclaimed, leaving Jack's company to join his companion. "I'm sorry for leaving so quickly, but I had to run down that hallway."

In response, she raised a blonde eyebrow. "What happened to 'Time Lords don't get sick'?" she asked teasingly.

"Blasphemy!" Four declared loudly. "Who said I was sick?" he asked, raising both eyebrows. "Time Lords do not get sick, you know that." he told her with a sense of superiority. Romana probably knew why he ran off anyway, he was sure. Romana knew everything after all.

She giggled, but the smile as of afterwards quickly faded. "What are we going to be about... me?" she posed, not only to him, but to everyone.

It appeared she wasn't here, and neither was Eleven, so it was obvious where they'd both gotten off to.

"I guess the Doctor would want to take her with him." Amy, wasn't it? Yes, Amy put in with a minuscule shrug.

"Where are she and Eleven? I would like to make sure she's alright." It was better to be safe than sorry, he decided. Plus, he hadn't liked the older Romana's condition one bit. He was worried, to say the least.

"He took her up to his TARDIS, I think." Amy answered again, pointing up to the ceiling where the ground was.

Four gave her an acknowledging nod, scratching his neck. "Yes, yes, he should be more than capable of helping her, I believe." he decided. "And then if there isn't a matter you would need our help in, we should try to keep this paradox to a minimum." he continued. "As in, us two to have our memories wiped and then off we go!" He gave a poor excuse for a smile to the group in front of him. He then approached the lift before anyone could comment, and called over his shoulder, "Coming, Romana?"

"Yes, of course." he heard his companion agree and she came to join him.

Four nodded towards the lift-operator man, who did not appear to like his new occupation. But still he activated the platform and soon both he and Romana were outside again. The first thing Four saw was the bright blue box with the sticker on the door – the TARDIS of his older self. What he didn't see, however, was his own.

With a frown, he approached the area it should have been and crouched down, fingers brushing the pavement. He then looked at Romana, holding his hat off his face so he could see her. "You haven't taught the TARDIS to move on her own, have you?" He then looked back down to the interesting concrete again. "If it was K9, I'm going to throw him out on Mars at once."

"I'm sure it wasn't K9." Romana assured, but she offered no explanation. She was supposed to know everything, but it appeared she didn't.

"We'll ask the others, perhaps they have footage of who decided to take her for a joyride." he suggested, straightening up to look at his older self's TARDIS.

When Romana sounded her agreement, Four knocked on the remaining TARDIS's doors. They were pulled open a moment later to reveal Eleven. He didn't appear surprised to see them.

"My TARDIS is gone!" Four informed his older self, slightly louder than necessary. "My TARDIS. Is gone." he repeated, shoving past him to get inside.

"It's gone?" Eleven questioned, shutting the door and then turning back to Four again. He approached the console, at which Romana was still standing. "I didn't take it." he alleged. Four raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "Ah, I'll, um... check the scanners." he decided aloud, circling the console in a brisk walk.

"Well?" Four prompted, moving over to join him where he'd settled at the monitor.

"It just disappears off the scanners." Eleven reported, pointing.

Four just sighed without even looking. "How very inconvenient." he commented.

"We won't be able to track her, either." Eleven put in very un-optimistically. "Unless we want to be meeting ourselves again."

"Of course, there's nothing better than messing with your own timeline." Four returned in annoyance. He did feel rather irritated at Eleven at the moment, and he felt he did have every reason to be.

"If the TARDIS didn't dematerialize," Four's Romana started up. She was pacing. "it means she was transported by other means. In theory, transportation of that kind would leave little traces of energy..." she trailed off and hesitated for a moment. "Yes, we should be able to see at least _how_ they moved her." she said ultimately.

"Why yes, that might be a start." Four agreed, finding the opportunity to start somewhere more interesting than getting annoyed at Eleven. "We should try and identify the form of energy that was used, we might find out how and who and hopefully where."

As he finished, the older Romana stepped into the console and began plugging in various commands. "There doesn't appear to be any atron energy used." she reported. "Perhaps a form of teleportation? I don't know. These readings aren't familiar to me, and in fact, there seems to be less activity in the closed area since its disappearance." she claimed. She returned to look at Eleven, who frowned.

"I don't recognise them either." he said, and then they both looked to Four.

Four returned their gazes, though he looked at Eleven like he was stupid. "If you don't know, how am I supposed to?" he asked in a huff.

He was really getting tired of him, Eleven. He walked over to the old-looking pilot's chair and sat back into it, crossing his arms and pulling his hat into his face. He wasn't sure if he could regenerate from having a stressful day, but he didn't want to test it. "Who'd have a reason and the means to steal a TARDIS anyway?" he bought up, blind, but still he spoke to the room. "I'd say that from what I've seen in the readings, whatever took the TARDIS is absorbing energy. And this kind of paradox should create an all-you-can-eat buffet." he pointed out. "It's easily to locate, as well. Not including the energy the TARDIS is capable of using from the Eye of Harmony."

There was silence for a moment, and then Eleven suggested, "Weeping Angels, perhaps?" He paused for a moment longer. "But they wouldn't be able to get rid of the TARDIS just like... that." He clicked his fingers as he finished.

"I'm thinking the Black Guardian." Four muttered. He suddenly felt sick again.

He knew how to hide his emotions, he'd had plenty of practice, but he felt it truly wouldn't take very long for the others to notice his foul mood. Even his older self would notice, and he was an idiot. The lack of distractions and his TARDIS wasn't helping at all.

However, Romana seated herself beside him in apparent understanding, and he found her hand pretty quickly.

"But we don't know where he was, or where he's taken the TARDIS." Eleven pointed with a sigh.

"Yep, isn't this just a wonderful day?" Four responded, trying to keep his hand from shaking in Romana's grip. "There must be some kind of traces left, it can't just cease to exist, can it?" He was trying to not sound annoyed, but he knew he was.

"I can't find anything." Eleven repeated to the room, and Four purely growled in frustration, before suddenly jumping up and walking to the door.

"Then you stay here and pretend to be productive." he told Eleven in close to a snarl. "I'll go outside and have a look around. And maybe there's a trap somewhere, and if we're lucky, I'll walk into it."

He opened the door, stepped outside, and then slammed it. He took a composing breath, not that he was composed, and then stuffed his hands into his pockets. A few moments later, the door opened again and Four didn't have to turn around to know it was his Romana.

"Is there something you're meaning to tell me?" she pressed.

Four didn't turn around. "No." he responded, and as she approached, he just turned away. "I'm so sorry, my dear Romana."

He heard her sigh heavily. "You think I haven't figured it out, too?" she questioned. "Something happened, didn't it? To Gallifrey? The Time Lords?"

Four nodded at the ground. "They're gone. All gone, erased from time." he confirmed. "They're all gone, Romana." he repeated, his voice shaking. "I'm so sorry, Romana, I'm so sorry..." He didn't like foreknowledge, in fact, he _despised_ it.

After a moment's debate with himself, he slowly turned around with an expression he himself wasn't sure he was even capable of doing. He just approached her, and as soon as he was able, pulled her into a tight hug. He wasn't even sure if it was for her comfort of his own."I'm so sorry." he told her again.

She didn't respond, and Four wasn't surprised by this. He pulled back and instead rested his hands on her shoulders, giving her a warm grin. "You're wonderful, Romana." he told her. "Never forget that."

"As are you." she returned, perfectly composed, and she mirrored his smile.

Four's grin widened into his usual toothy grin as he looked around. "Well, we should try to find the old girl. We don't want to worry K9, do we?" He changed the subject, though his mood was slightly better than before. Having Romana here was reassuring. "Maybe my idiot future self isn't as useless as he appears to be and has found something."

It was likely just wishful thinking, but still he moved over to the door of the TARDIS and knocked it in the rhythm of the fifth symphony of Beethoven. He was betting his scarf that all his trouble would be orchestrated by the Black Guardian.

They were let in by the older Romana, who seemed pleased that he was no longer sulking. As they walked in, Eleven looked up from where he was at the console. "Ah, decided I'm good at pretending to get stuff done, then?" he asked. Four purely raised his eyebrows. "We looked at the camera footage I completely forgot the TARDIS took, and it was indeed Weeping Angels who took your TARDIS." he revealed.

"And the Black Guardian?" Four prompted, looking highly unimpressed about the perpetrators of his TARDIS.

"He has to be involved somehow." Eleven claimed. "It'd explain the convenient paradox, after all." he added in perfect reasoning.

"Ah, yes, thanks for proving my theory." Four said. "See, I told Romana you're not as useless as you appear to be." He wasn't exactly planning on being best friends with this incarnation, and making fun of him did appear to lighten his foul mood.

"Best course of action!" Eleven started up again loudly, poised against the railing, addressing the group below. "Cram everyone in here and land somewhere random until can think of a plan to get the Black Guardian off our trail." he announced. "And of course, get your TARDIS back." Eleven added on the end with a grin.

"We should better get them to safety while we're dealing with this problem." Four agreed with him. "And I remember correctly, which I do, Weeping Angels are quite dangerous even without the Black Guardian." He then looked up at Eleven properly, making a prompting gesture at him. "Go on, then, we can't put everyone on that lift." he said.

Eleven gave him a curious look before turning away from the railing and to the console again. They dematerialized.

**/ 5328.**


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: See the bottom for my (our) excuses/explanation/whatever you want to call it.**_

* * *

Eleven just stopped himself from throwing a scowl in Four's direction. He knew how he was feeling and acting as he was, because he had been exactly the same after the War. However, the thump of the TARDIS landing in the Torchwood Hub bought him from reminiscing too deeply about anything.

He looked at his co-pilot and fixed her up with a small smile, before looking to Four and his co-pilot's younger self. He quickly moved on and went to the doors, throwing them open and saying, "Alright, gang! In here. Special treat for today. Free TARDIS ride!"

Everyone was already looking to Eleven's TARDIS from having heard it dematerialize, and it was only at the invitation did everyone but Jack's co-workers begin to move. At Jack's wave of a hand, however, they eventually did, and soon everyone was piling into Eleven's TARDIS.

* * *

Romana, the older one, watched as the people came in. She kept a passive expression as she straightened herself. Four, on the other hand, looked annoyed and was sulking at the same time – it was something only he could manage, of course. Romana had mastered emotions after her time as the Lady President of Gallifrey. They weren't something that people wanted to see in their President, after all.

Her younger self stood near, and Romana didn't need to turn to know that. She must be burning with questions, though she did not ask them, and for that Romana was grateful. "I will be fine." she said as she moved past her, over her shoulder.

Instead of beside her younger self, she stood right at the entrance. Eleven's companions came in first, leading the herd. The Fact came in next, followed by Gwen, the woman who had gone out of her way to try and get Romana to talk. Next was the small woman, Toshiko, and finally the two men entered last. All the humans which did not belonging to Eleven tried to hide their surprise at the sheer size of the spaceship, but only the man in the suit was convincing – he even looked unimpressed about it.

Eleven, on the other hand, was grinning enthusiastically at each one of them from the console. He was leaning on it, arms crossed, but he still managed to look happy about himself. Romana shut the doors at Eleven's nod, and she barely had time to reach the console before the whole room began to throw its occupants around.

Romana just sighed, reached to the console, and flipped on the stabilisers. The room evened out, and she put a hand on her hip. "_Still_? After all this time?" she accused.

A small but sad smile found its way to Eleven's face. "Yeah, still." He turned his back to her to reach across the console, effectively grounding them. "It makes it more fun." Romana rolled her eyes, and his smile widened, but he moved away to check the scanners. "Oh, we're on a planet not far from Earth." he announced to the room. "A couple of galaxies away... but still. Not far." He paused, pressing a few buttons on the monitor. "It's called Stek. Predominantly uninhabited, probably because of the harsh atmosphere. There's oxygen out there, but it's probably contaminated by the radiation floating around."

"Oh, wonderful." Four remarked, screaming enthusiasm about their landing place. "Anything we can _possibly_ do to solve our problems from here?"

Eleven spun around to look at his younger self. "No, not at the moment. I've been improvising."

"If we would have landed somewhere _useful_, then perhaps something would have happily presented itself." Four continued on complaining, still hiding underneath his fedora.

Romana watched as Eleven soundlessly rolled his eyes. "If I would have landed us somewhere useful _without_ the randomiser, then the Black Guardian would find us pretty quickly." he pointed out, and here, Four pulled up his fedora to look at Eleven.

"Maybe we could have just waited for him, and then kindly ask if he would return my TARDIS. I could offer half a bag of jellybabies and throw you in as well." His look turned sour. "That would be enough to stop annoying me, at least for a little while." The sour look turned into a icy glare, accompanied with Four's crossing his arms.

Four's glare was surprisingly returned. "Oh yes, I'll just land us on Earth. Or non-existent Gallifrey, that works too." Yes, Romana was certain that had been a snarl from Eleven. "The Black Guardian is dangerous. I've already dealt with him." Eleven's face softened, but then tensed. "I know what happens. I know who dies, who gets left behind!" He gave a sideways glance at Romana's younger self here, but it was barely noticeable. "I know how you feel. About the War. But you haven't _been_ there yet. You haven't seen the things I saw. The things we all had to do. The decisions the President had to make." Eleven's gaze flicked to Romana, but quickly back to Four. "So would you _please_ stop criticising me? I'm trying to help!"

Eleven took a moment to take a deep breath after that. Nobody appeared to be very happy about the argument, more so the two humans which belonged to Eleven. The ginger, Amy, looked as if she were about to snap at Four any moment.

Four eventually opened his mouth again, but before he could form a syllable, Eleven cut over him, "If the Black Guardian has allied himself with the Weeping Angels, it's going to make getting the TARDIS book a whole lot more difficult. And dangerous, of course."

And surprisingly, Romana watched as Four uncrossed his arms and let the glare fall off his face. He leaned forward in the chair. "What do we go, then?" he asked. "You can't except us to do anything from here." He hesitated. "And I don't know what to do."

Eleven sighed and began kneading at his forehead, eyes scanning around the console room for an answer to their dilemma. He smiled a little as he met Romana's gaze, but he quickly moved on. "Where would the Black Guardian take something for a keepsake?" Eleven eventually posed as a starting point, and honestly, it was better than Four's surprising declaration of 'I don't know'. "If you were him... where would you stash a TARDIS?"

"Somewhere hard to get, but still somewhere obvious." Four answered after a moment's thought. "Not without the right amount of chaos, of course. Probably a trap – no, scratch that, I'm certain it's a trap." Romana agreed with that much, remembering all the trouble they had had together with the Black Guardian. "I would say he'll send someone to guard it, as well." He paused, and suddenly looked very irritated. Everyone was still listening intently regardless. Eleven was grinning slightly. "No, no. These kinds of plans don't work. They're old, already used, and I could outsmart easily. We were always a few steps and he changed his plan to compensate. To make us overthink, but that was the whole beauty of it, he _wanted_ us to overthink." Four put a hand on his chin, looking down at the glass floor of Eleven's TARDIS. "Somewhere obvious... yet the last place we would search..." Then at that, he stopped, and snapped his head up to look at Eleven. "1963, I.M. Foreman's scrapyard, just before we arrived. I'm betting my scarf there's already a police box standing."

* * *

The promised item was found at the given location after Eleven's piloting skills eventually got them there.

Four was the first to the door. "I'm still sure it's a trap, and that someone's guarding it. Namely, the Weeping Angels." The younger Romana looked as if she were about to object, but quickly closed her mouth again. "You better stay here, and no, I don't care if you're professionals." He looked at the Torchwood staff. "And Romana, you ought to stay here in case something happens. They'll need you." Four then looked at Eleven. "Older me, you come. Immortal with the gun, you come too."

And then he was out the door before anyone could question who had regenerated and made him President, though everybody knew the answer to the question was Rassilon. Eleven shared a look with Amy and Rory, before shrugging and following Four out. Jack didn't waste any time lingering either. Luckily, everyone else remained behind in the safety of the TARDIS.

"No abnormal readings. It's definitely your TARDIS." Eleven confirmed after a few moments later, sonic in hand, and chin raised in Four's general direction. "Nothing's been added or taken away."

"Suspicious." Four remarked, making his way towards where his TARDIS stood.

He took out his own sonic, as well as the key. He hadn't remembered stepping out as his first incarnation and seeing three police boxes, that was for sure, so they had to be quick with this. In the midst of wondering if such a thing would happen, he completely forgot to pay attention to things which jump out from the dark and try to break your neck. Most people just called it and a Weeping Angel, however.

How it had gotten in was a mystery, though it had likely been when he had opened the door. However, Four didn't spend much time pondering this fact, for it currently had a horribly tight hold around his neck. The grip prevented him from yelling in surprise, too, which was a downfall. The screwdriver fell to the ground as Four tried to allow himself some space to breathe, respiratory bypass completely forgotten.

Now, it would be a wonder if he could regenerate from a broken neck.

* * *

Eleven was re-reading the scan results as Four disappeared into his TARDIS. He paid him no mind, as it would probably cheer him up a little. Jack approached cautiously, and Eleven took that as the cue to finally follow his younger self inside.

Then there was a cry of, "Doctor!" from stunningly the immortal, more commonly know as Jack.

Eleven quickly realised that, oh dear, there was something wrong, and it was probably a good idea for him to investigate. However, he couldn't get much further past the initial corridor which was the entrance, because Jack wasn't moving. At Eleven's hand touching his shoulder, however, he did move and the scene was revealed.

The first thing which leapt to mind was that he was not supposed to regenerate here; that it would be stupid if he did, even for the Black Guardian. Not to mention Eleven was still here, so it couldn't end that badly, could it?

Though, if Four did regenerate here, that would create an enormous paradox. The universe would not appreciate the drastic change in timelines very much at all. However, Eleven quickly realised something – that the Black Guardian wouldn't let that happen, because there was almost certainly something bigger going on here.

The Black Guardian was perfectly capable of working alone. But now he had enlisted foot soldiers, the Weeping Angels, to pry around and drag the Doctors every which way. The Black Guardian had wanted this to happen, which should mean, in theory, he wouldn't allow the Weeping Angels to kill Four. It would just zap him off somewhere, and hopefully not to the end of the universe.

"Alright, I have plan." Four announced, his voice loud despite him currently being choked. It appears he had considered the same things Eleven had, judging by the very confident yet afraid look on his face. "Look away."

"Look away? Look _away_?" Jack clearly disagreed with that, and looked to Eleven support.

"Think for a moment, Jack." Eleven told the immortal, and could see the annoyance on Four's face at the man not understanding their way of mind.

"Do it." Four urged, his eyes now closed.

Jack shook his head in disbelief, but his sudden trust in both Eleven and Four was astounding. He looked away, so now only Eleven was gazing at the angel. With a deep breath, and although Eleven trusted his own logic, he hoped for the best as he closed his eyes.

**/ 2028.**

* * *

_**This happens a lot throughout the whole RP. Characters get picked on. It's mainly Four and RomanaII, and that's because a certain someone really loves to torture them both. It's alright, though, it's all happy in the end.**_

_**Most of our torturing of the characters is plot driven and actually contribute to something or another, and isn't just shameless whump. That's our excuse and you're invited to scold us as you wish for our love or doing such things.**_

_**That's all I really needed to say, really. I hope you're enjoying. x**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Happy Australian school holidays!**_

* * *

Four stumbled and landed on hard stone. It was dark. No, wait a moment. He opened his eyes and looked up at the blue sky. And of course, it wasn't hard stone, it was hard pavement.

Now confused, he sat up and looked around. He wasn't sure what he had expected, putting his trust in himself like that, but it definitely wasn't this. The angel seemed to have landed him in one of those idyllic neighbourhoods they showed on bad soap operas.

Four slowly stood up, throwing his scarf over his shoulder. There hadn't been anyone around to see his sudden appearance. And ugh, un-capsuled time travel(?) was horrible, he ought to mention, too.

But he didn't let this thought distract him as he continued on his way, landing at the decision that there must be something interesting here.

Four was rather enjoying his walk through the quaint little neighbourhood, but it had quickly become apparent that it would pay to be constructive at a time such as this. There were children (well, _grown_ children, but children nevertheless) currently crossing the street together, so Four made to join them.

"Pardon me," he said, "I seem to have gotten lost. You couldn't tell me where I am, could you? Maybe the date as we–"

It was here he noticed an elderly man walking out of the house in front of he and children, followed by a woman. It usually wouldn't have been anything out the normal, but in this instance, Four found he recognised them. It was too coincidental to be a coincidence.

"Brigadier! Sarah!" he called.

The children were now practically forgotten, as Four moved past them to get to his literally old friends. Though, he supposed it was socially unacceptable for him to point that out.

"Doctor?" He heard both say in unison, sharing a glance, and then they looked back at him. Sarah's face was touched with a grin and she approached, and the Brigadier attempted to keep up with her. "What are you _doing_ here?" she asked, almost excitedly. She adjusted the scarf around his neck. "You... you're so young." she remarked, with a more composed smile. "What are you doing here?" she asked again.

Four was given an opportunity to answer her question the second time round. Had it been anyone other than his Sarah, even the Brigadier, he would have told them the obvious – that he was happy to see them. But they knew, oh, they always knew. "I followed a distress call that created a paradox that lead to me meeting my own eleventh incarnation, Torchwood, and a Time Lady that is a future incarnation of my current assistant Romana." He paused to take a breath. "My TARDIS was stolen, but I found it again. But _then_ I was sent here by a weeping angel working for the Black Guardian and I would really like to know that as well, what _am_ I doing here?"

It felt like a secret, the purpose of the angel sending him here rather than zapping him off into the centre of a star. It was so big of a secret he had to grin, and it only widened as he pondered his situation further and where it had sent him.

"There has to be something going on here, is there anything interesting going on?" But it was impossible to focus, it really was. "Oh, but look at you!" He had to hug Sarah, he couldn't stop himself, and then he turned to the Brigadier, grinning. "Oh god, look at that beard. I thought the moustache was bad." His grin somehow widened. "It's wonderful to see you, Brigadier."

The Brigadier sighed, though offered no comment. "And I'm glad to see you too." he returned, completely composed, and added a curt nod for good measure.

"But oh my, Doctor, are you alright?" Sarah then pressed, her grin having disappeared. "That trip did sound like an unpleasant one."

Four frowned in return, looking insulted. "Of course I'm fine! I'm always fine, you know that!" His grin quickly returned, and he was once again pondering his situation. "But this is just way too creative for the Black Guardian, something big I going on..." he thought aloud, looking to his friends.

"The Black Guardian?" The Brigadier leant forward on his cane. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

"Ah, yes. The Black Guardian. Evil entity, wants the universe to fall into chaos." Four summarised. "I must have told you about it sometime." He gave a casual shrug, dismissing the subject completely as he sobered up again. "There isn't a way I could and contract the TARDIS, is there?"

Eleven was likely gaping at empty space right now. It was an amusing thought, but Four didn't have time to dwell on the idiocy of his future incarnations.

"Oh, and before I forget," he added before Sarah Jane or the Brigadier could answer his previous question, "did anything interesting, important or radioactive happen around here? Nothing falling out of the sky? Nobody falling over on the pavement and hitting their heads?"

Sarah Jane shook her head. "No, not that I can recall." Four tried not to be disappointed by this. "And actually, there maybe be a way to contact the TARDIS." She looked at the Brigadier, almost grinning. "Brigadier, did you want to get back?"

The man shook his head, mirroring Sarah Jane's almost-grin. "And miss the Doctor getting himself into trouble?" He looked at Four, almost challengingly, and Four gave him a wide grin in return. "Never."

* * *

There was some vain hope in Eleven that Four would appear from the corridor if he retired slowly, but no such scenario presented itself. Jack seemed equally disappointed.

As Eleven's hand settled on the switch to open the TARDIS doors, there was a noise from the console, and the communications panel burst into life. Perhaps retiring slowly _did_ pay off. It got Romeo and Juliet married, after all, even they ended up... ah... dead.

"Hello!" Yes, that was definitely Four's voice.

It took Eleven a moment to find the communications panel on his old console, and when he did, the little square on the console was showing a the channel connection originating from Bannerman Road, from a computer under the name of 'MR SMITH'.

"Hi!" Eleven returned enthusiastically. "Are you alright there? No broken necks?"

"As far as I can tell, necks are intact." Eleven could practically _hear _the grin in his voice as he continued, "Do you know where the angel sent me?" A brief pause, just for effect. Four had always had the flamboyant flare, anyway. "To Sarah Jane and the Brigadier! I don't know about you, but I wouldn't call that a coincidence." Another pause, accompanied with a dramatic topic change, "Is the angel still there?"

Almost instinctively, Eleven checked over his shoulder. "No angels here." he reported to the console. "But Sarah and the Brigadier?" He changed the subject back. "Tell them I say hello!" Something was bothering him about this, though. Why sent Four to Bannerman Road, even more so when Sarah Jane and the Brigadier were there? "I'd love to know why you're there with them, though." he added on.

"Yes, I have asked about that. Twice, actually. But nobody seems to have planned on answering me." Another pause, and then, "Answer the good man, Sarah, it's awfully important."

"Hm. Nothing strange has happened recently, actually." Sarah answered Four, and Eleven could hear her over the open communication line. "It's been awfully quiet."

"Nothing, then." Four translated. There were a few moment's silence. "Well, what can we make of that?"

Eleven remarked, "Well, the Black Guardian certainly can't kill you by boring you to death."

"Unless I decide to blow the street up." Four returned smoothly. "There might be something underneath all this road base and foundation, you see."

"If I may help, Doctors," This mechanical voice was clearer than Four and Sarah Jane's had been, "there appears to be high unidentified energy readings four kilometres southwest of Bannerman road. They began fluctuating two hours ago." Eleven could assume this voice belonged to 'MR SMITH', for from memory, the Brigadier did not sound like that.

"I like the alien computer." Eleven heard Four voice to his cohort. "Maybe _I_ should marry him."

"Mr Smith, a fix on the energy reading's exact location would be lovely." Sarah put in, successfully ignoring Four. Eleven was attempting to imagine the current look on his face. He should have opened visual communications, just for the added amusement.

"I'm working on it, Sarah Jane." An extended silence this time, in which Eleven realised Jack was next to him and was also listening to this conversation. Until finally, "There seems to have been great movement at the centre, similar to earthquakes, but these are aliens of origin. I advise caution, Sarah Jane, as I do not recognise the readings."

"Well, then, let's take a look at our strange energy readings." Four wasn't wasting any time.

"Be careful, you lot!" Eleven added in before the channel was closed. Because knowing Four, he'd do it without even batting an eyelid, and Eleven would have even less of a clue what to tell the others when he got back to his own TARDIS.

"We'll be careful, Doctor," Eleven identified the Brigadier's voice this time, and it sent a pang of guilt and regret through both of his hearts. "I'll look after them."

"You heard the man!" Four declared. "We'll be fine."

Here Four actually did close the channel, like Eleven had predicted. He let out a little breath as he contemplated the past few minutes. Jack waited patiently, though surprisingly didn't say a word. In a way, Eleven was sort of glad. In relation to what he'd say to the others, to _Romana_, about what had happened to Four, he wasn't sure how he was going to put it lightly.

"Right." he eventually announced, clasping his hands together, leaving the vicinity of the console. "The others." He didn't look over his shoulder to ensure the immortal was following as he left Four's TARDIS.

* * *

Sarah Jane substituted the TARDIS for her small car. "I hope this will do." she said, in regards to presenting Four with her car.

"Yes, it will do." It wasn't the TARDIS, but hey, it was better than having to walk four kilometres. "I'm sitting beside Sarah." he told the Brigadier over his shoulder, clambering into the car, claiming his seat.

Sarah got in shortly afterwards, in the driver's seat. It took the Brigadier a moment longer to get into the back seat.

"I would have helped, Brigadier." Sarah then told the old man, as she pressed the keys into the ignition.

Four remembered here that _right_, his old friends were actually _old_. "I could throw you into the time constentultor, Brigadier." he suggested over his shoulder. "Turned a Sontaran into a baby once. An actual baby. It was rather amusing." He did remember having an old body himself, and it was fun or practical, especially with the amount of running he had to do nowadays.

"I do believe I'm fine, thank you, Doctor." The Brigadier dismissed Four's offer. "The last thing I need is you meddling with my body."

"It was just a suggestion."

The boredom quickly took hold, typically as soon as the conversation ended, and Four found himself looking out the window instead. Sarah had since started their journey to the mysterious energy readings, and Four watched the English scenery roll by outside.

He found himself dwelling. The Brigadier looked so old now, even if he still had the spirit of a man who had almost killed him so long ago. And he wouldn't live for much longer, his human body would eventually give in. Four actually couldn't imagine him ever dying. It seemed like yesterday he'd effortlessly hit the Master over the head, after all.

It took him a moment to realise he was sulking about the implications of time travel, and quickly pulled himself out of his stupor to ask Sarah, "Are we there yet?"

"A couple more minutes now." Sarah assured.

They drove in silence for another few moments, then Four felt as if he'd been starting out of that window for another millennia.

"We're here." Sarah Jane finally announced, stopping the car.

Four jumped out barely before the car had stopped moving, examining his new surroundings. They were on a hill that was predominantly covered with green grass. It would have been a lovely photogenic little spot if it wasn't for the crater further down the slope.

The smoke appeared to have cleared, but whatever had landed on the slope and was emitting weird readings was still glowing.

Four adjusted his hat and then stuffed his hands into his pockets. He walked into the field, not bothering to check if Sarah Jane or the Brigadier were following. He stopped far enough from the crater so his shoes would not be assaulted.

"Hello?" he called to it, just as his two friends joined him. Sarah Jane appeared to have been helping the Brigadier across the grass. "Someone there?"

Just in case, of course. There actually might be somewhere there, after all. But knowing his luck they were likely evil and wouldn't announce their presence to them. A pity, really, it would only be fair.

"I should invited K9." Sarah Jane mused aloud. "We could have scanned this and found out where it's from."

"And that would've been the first time he would've been of use today, and now he has missed that chance." That stupid metal dog, that stupid, lovable metal dog. "Now," He quickly shook himself from muttering about broken necks, and crouched down so he could see their source of the strange readings closely. "let's have a look at you, shall we?" He leant closer, somehow, and then grinned. "Oh my, how did you manage to get here?" he asked it, fishing into his pockets for a handkerchief. "You must be terribly homesick." He gave a little sigh as everything suddenly connected. "No, don't tell me, you're the reason I was sent here, yes?" He gave another heavier sigh, though it wasn't in distaste. "I do wonder why they couldn't have just retrieved you themselves."

Four took the object from the crater in the handkerchief and picked it up whilst Sarah Jane and the Brigadier looked on. Once the homesick object was safely inside his coat pocket, he looked to his friends.

"I need to contact my older self at once." he told them, not even offering an explanation, and started back to the car.

* * *

Outside the TARDIS and not far from the other one (there wouldn't be the possibility that the whole universe might just implode, oh no, never with the Doctor around), another TARDIS appeared in the shape of a blue police box.

The door opened, and after a few moments, a girl looked out. She turned back to the TARDIS with a grin. "Grandfather, we have landed!"

She was quickly joined by another person, an old man, who was armed with a cane. "Careful, my child! We don't know anything of this place yet."

The girl stepped out, and the man followed her. He shut the door to the police box as he stepped outside. The girl looked around, only to see the two identical police boxes standing nearby.

She looked to the old man, eyes wide. "Oh no, those are TARDISes!" she exclaimed, pointing, in case the man hadn't realised. "Have the Time Lords already found us?"

Both moved closer to the nearest one, and the man was eyeing the structure suspiciously. "No one is coming out." he observed, and then quickly took his attention of the box. "We need to go at once. Come on, Susan, my child."

**/ 2671.**


End file.
